This congressman felt honored to be able to introduce the benefits of his country's political system to the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. This time the Eastern envoys came to Europe for a visit. Everyone knew that one of the main tasks of the young emperor was to study abroad. He wanted to travel around the world and learn from other countries. short and long, and ultimately provided reference for the reform of the Qing Dynasty.
It is a dream of almost all British politicians to be able to instill the advantages of constitutional monarchy in the Eastern emperors and influence the national policy reform of the Qing Dynasty.
In fact, this is also a very important reason why Zaichun is given such high courtesy. Promoting the British political model to China is not just a political action, but there are also deep interest considerations behind it.
Only by allowing the Qing Dynasty to implement policies similar to the British system as much as possible can more subsequent business negotiations be carried out. Only when the political system wants to be British will it not be confused and unable to find a way out.
Just like the capitalists in the UK now, they are lying on the map of the Qing Dynasty every day to study how to lay the railway. This is a bigger business than tea, silk, and porcelain.
Turn the wheel and get tens of millions of gold! There is no need to elaborate on how profitable railways are.
However, the political system of the Qing Dynasty was so weird that the British could not find a way out at all. Ordinary small businesses could be easily managed by negotiating directly with officials at the state and county levels.
However, it involves a large investment of tens of millions of pounds and involves the construction of domestic and inter-provincial railways. This kind of business must be negotiated with the court. This is a big deal between countries.
But can we talk? After Emperor Tongzhi ascended the throne, the empress dowager and the young emperor who dominated the two palaces of the Qing Dynasty did not even see the foreign ambassadors in Dongjiaominxiang.
Although Britain, France, the United States, and Russia used war to pry open the door of the Qing Empire and forced them to agree to the establishment of embassies by European powers in Beijing, they did not expect that the Manchus would still have ways to deal with them.
Don’t you want to build an embassy? Then build it. I can’t defeat you anyway, but you want us to build embassies in London, Paris, and Washington? Sorry, we have no interest in enduring this.
What? Do you want to enter the Forbidden City to meet the Queen Mother and the Young Emperor? Please, the little emperor has not yet taken charge of the government, how about he not see outsiders?
You said you want to see the Queen Mother? Hey...you are so brave, don't you know whether men and women can be intimate or not? You don’t want fame and honor, but our Queen Mother of the Qing Dynasty still needs face!
How can a widow see outsiders? How can a widow show her face? And I saw you guys, a bunch of foreign devils. It would be very unpleasant if word of this spread!
The emperor cannot be seen, nor can the queen mother be seen, so the only choice is to find Prince Gong from the Prime Minister’s Yamen!
But unexpectedly, Prince Gong shrugged helplessly and waved his hands. There was nothing I could do! The power lies in the hands of the Queen Mother, and I cannot make the decision on such a big matter.
Come on, just like that, the ball has been kicked back into the Forbidden City. If you want to go to the Forbidden City again to express your love, the words waiting for you are still the same, just like a donkey pulling a wheel.
The European diplomats staying in China at this moment are all troubled by the Qing Dynasty's kicking behavior. Even Xiao Letian is curious about the purpose behind this behavior.
But after Xiao Letian used many of the CIA's resources to dig out the truth from the mouths of countless Manchus and high-ranking officials, the truth made Xiao Letian dumbfounded.
After all, it was still a matter of kneeling down. What the Queen Mother and the princes were thinking about was, if a foreign minister entered the Forbidden City to negotiate with the Emperor and Queen Mother, should he kneel down?
The foreign devils would definitely not kneel down, but the Qing Dynasty still had to maintain its dignity. In such a back-and-forth struggle, the Manchu Qing Dynasty missed opportunities for reform year after year.
The mystery of history was finally revealed. In his previous life, Xiao Letian had seen an unofficial history note left by the Qing Dynasty, which recorded some tidbits about Emperor Tongzhi's wedding.
When the European envoys in Dongjiaominxiang were almost going crazy after being tortured by the Qing Dynasty's football-kicking behavior, they finally waited for the wedding of Emperor Tongzhi.
According to legal principles, Emperor Tongzhi will take charge of the empire after his wedding. At this time, the minister can directly meet with His Majesty the Emperor, so that the Queen Mother's excuses for playing ball will no longer be used.
As long as they can see the emperor alone, the European envoys believe that they can definitely convince the Chinese emperor with emotion and reason. After all, the young emperor still has the dream of a powerful country in his heart.
However, I never expected that the Qing government would only accept wedding gifts from European countries, but only allow European envoys to rest outside the Qianqing Palace. To put it bluntly, they would not allow foreign devils to enter the main wedding venue.
Now the foreign devils were so anxious that they banded together to break into the palace. This caused the entire Manchu court to explode. In order to calm down the incident, Prince Gong, on behalf of the Queen Mother and others, quickly appeased these foreigners and promised to make other arrangements. Time allowed the emperor to see these envoys alone.
That is to say, after this conflict, the Qing Dynasty officially abolished the rule that foreign ministers must kneel and kowtow. From then on, envoys from various European countries, including Japan, which later defeated the Qing Dynasty, no longer had to kneel and kowtow when entering the Forbidden City.
Every time he thought about this, Xiao Letian couldn't help but sigh. He recalled the famous saying of the famous penmaster in his previous life: 'In China, even if you want to move a table, you have to bleed! '
The inertia left by thousands of years of feudal dynasty is so powerful that these Europeans cannot even reverse it with guns and cannons.
You start a war with me and you defeat me, then I will cede the land and pay compensation! But you want to change some of my traditional habits? That's not okay, this is the ancestral family law!
This was a true portrayal of the Qing Empire at that time. It was precisely because of this background that Emperor Tongzhi’s visit made Europeans so excited.
They finally found an opportunity to directly influence the Chinese emperor, and the little emperor was still so young, which was a critical moment in shaping the worldview.
Whoever can influence Emperor Tongzhi will be able to influence the direction of China for at least fifty years in the future, and at the same time win countless business opportunities.
Today, Emperor Tongzhi showed a strong interest in the British parliamentary system, which excited all the British politicians present.
"Dear Your Majesty! The empire must be cautious in its governance. A new policy must withstand the test of many parties. There is no policy that can satisfy everyone. All we have to do is to satisfy the interests of the majority of people!"
“If a proposal cannot be justified even when questioned by parliament, then it can only be said that the proposal is wrong or immature!”
"Since there is a problem, then go back and revise it. All of us who are in politics have no experience of being accused or attacked? Everyone is the same, so we don't have the so-called feeling of humiliation. By the way, to explain it in Eastern terms, it is called It’s a shame, right?”
